6 ms·

Fixed Raises $650K More and Heads to Oakland

43 points by davidhegarty 12y ago

jasonwilk 12y ago
You guys need to come to Los Angeles
- eCa 12y ago
  > heading to L.A. in March
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- davidhegarty 12y ago
  Sorry to hear about your experience. This is definitely not the experience we are aiming for... Can you email directly at hegs (at) fixed (dot) com and I'll figure out exactly what happened with your ticket. Thanks.
  - forgottenpass 12y ago
    What about the Tried to contact them without getting any feedback. part of the parent post? Any plans to be responsive to customers that don't know a slightly insider-y venue to make your company look bad?
    - davidhegarty 12y ago
      We take a huge amount of pride in our Customer Service. We have a target response time of 4-5 hours, and try to make sure every user questions gets responded to in under 1 business day. We think it's reflected in our reviews on the App Store (http://goo.gl/dn4zYC http://goo.gl/dn4zYC). Someone not getting a response shouldn't be possible.. our workflows aren't setup that way. That's not to say that it hasn't happened, but when it does it's usually for a technical reason outside of our immediate control (e.g. user's spam filters). Happy to de-bug the issue publicly on hackernews, but so far I can't find any record of a user with an email/name similar to that username, and the user hasn't contacted me. I'll update as I know more...
ihaveajob 12y ago
This makes me sad. If you make a mistake, own it. If you get a fair parking ticket, pay it. Don't be a leech. Cities have scarce resources that are not designed to fight people looking for loopholes.
- fragsworth 12y ago
  > If you make a mistake, own it. But if the city makes the mistake, they shouldn't own it? It's their own rules, on their terms, designed to confuse newcomers. I can't fathom how you would think this is fair.
  - ihaveajob 12y ago
    Sure, if that's the case. In my experience, though, these services simply contest everything in the hope that the officer in charge or the ticket will not have time to follow up, and the case will get thrown out even if it's a perfectly reasonable fine. It works, but that doesn't make it right.
    - fragsworth 12y ago
      > these services simply contest everything in the hope that the officer in charge or the ticket will not have time to follow up No. If you actually read the article, they generally contest things on the grounds that there was a mistake or error in issuing the parking ticket that makes it invalid.
      - gmarx 12y ago
        Generally? That doesn't sound like an argument against the basic idea. If they only contest when they fins a specific error, I would agree. If they contest everything hoping the police won't show...it's a short term hack. If a service makes every ticket contested, cities will change the process.
- matthewarkin 12y ago
  My issue is that I'll happily own up to my mistake if the amount I have to pay is fair. A $60 parking ticket obtained during the $.25 an hour rate seems unfair when the street is half empty.
ars 12y ago
You (and they) should write the state after Oakland - there are many Oaklands.
- tizzdogg 12y ago
  But only one that is a "neighboring city" to San Francisco (CA).
  - ars 12y ago
    It doesn't say San Francisco in the title.
    - tizzdogg 12y ago
      I suppose if reading literally the first sentence of the article is too much trouble, then yes, that is a problem.
      - ars 12y ago
        That exactly what I read: the first sentence, than I closed it as regional news. (There are tons of startups in the San Francisco area, it's only interesting when it's not in that area, and that's what I thought this was at first.) Is it really that much trouble to put the state in the title? Or do people living there forget there are other places in the world?
        tizzdogg 12y ago
        Well I do think Oakland California is the most populous and well-known city of that name so it's a resonable assumption that's what the article is about. I dont disagree that it's a good idea to be as clear as possible in titles. But if I saw an article about Madrid, I'd probably assume it's the one in Spain even if I happened to live in Madrid, Iowa. I guess the question is whether Oakland, CA has enough prominence to be known widely outside the region. And I do think it's a major city in its own right, not just in its relation to San Francisco.
nbaman_23 12y ago
For L.A. residents, this is pretty wild. Drives me nuts. This is what happens when bureaucratic agencies run wild, with no one but helpless citizens to hold them accountable [emphasis added]. This is why this is such a great idea! http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/city-leaders-react-to-bogus-parking-tickets-exposed-by-cbs2-report/ http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/city-leaders-react...

43 points by davidhegarty 12y ago

jasonwilk 12y ago

You guys need to come to Los Angeles

eCa 12y ago
> heading to L.A. in March

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

davidhegarty 12y ago
Sorry to hear about your experience. This is definitely not the experience we are aiming for... Can you email directly at hegs (at) fixed (dot) com and I'll figure out exactly what happened with your ticket. Thanks.
- forgottenpass 12y ago
  What about the Tried to contact them without getting any feedback. part of the parent post? Any plans to be responsive to customers that don't know a slightly insider-y venue to make your company look bad?
  - davidhegarty 12y ago
    We take a huge amount of pride in our Customer Service. We have a target response time of 4-5 hours, and try to make sure every user questions gets responded to in under 1 business day. We think it's reflected in our reviews on the App Store (http://goo.gl/dn4zYC http://goo.gl/dn4zYC). Someone not getting a response shouldn't be possible.. our workflows aren't setup that way. That's not to say that it hasn't happened, but when it does it's usually for a technical reason outside of our immediate control (e.g. user's spam filters). Happy to de-bug the issue publicly on hackernews, but so far I can't find any record of a user with an email/name similar to that username, and the user hasn't contacted me. I'll update as I know more...

ihaveajob 12y ago

This makes me sad. If you make a mistake, own it. If you get a fair parking ticket, pay it. Don't be a leech. Cities have scarce resources that are not designed to fight people looking for loopholes.

fragsworth 12y ago
> If you make a mistake, own it. But if the city makes the mistake, they shouldn't own it? It's their own rules, on their terms, designed to confuse newcomers. I can't fathom how you would think this is fair.
- ihaveajob 12y ago
  Sure, if that's the case. In my experience, though, these services simply contest everything in the hope that the officer in charge or the ticket will not have time to follow up, and the case will get thrown out even if it's a perfectly reasonable fine. It works, but that doesn't make it right.
  - fragsworth 12y ago
    > these services simply contest everything in the hope that the officer in charge or the ticket will not have time to follow up No. If you actually read the article, they generally contest things on the grounds that there was a mistake or error in issuing the parking ticket that makes it invalid.
    - gmarx 12y ago
      Generally? That doesn't sound like an argument against the basic idea. If they only contest when they fins a specific error, I would agree. If they contest everything hoping the police won't show...it's a short term hack. If a service makes every ticket contested, cities will change the process.
matthewarkin 12y ago
My issue is that I'll happily own up to my mistake if the amount I have to pay is fair. A $60 parking ticket obtained during the $.25 an hour rate seems unfair when the street is half empty.

ars 12y ago

You (and they) should write the state after Oakland - there are many Oaklands.

tizzdogg 12y ago
But only one that is a "neighboring city" to San Francisco (CA).
- ars 12y ago
  It doesn't say San Francisco in the title.
  - tizzdogg 12y ago
    I suppose if reading literally the first sentence of the article is too much trouble, then yes, that is a problem.
    - ars 12y ago
      That exactly what I read: the first sentence, than I closed it as regional news. (There are tons of startups in the San Francisco area, it's only interesting when it's not in that area, and that's what I thought this was at first.) Is it really that much trouble to put the state in the title? Or do people living there forget there are other places in the world?
      - tizzdogg 12y ago
        Well I do think Oakland California is the most populous and well-known city of that name so it's a resonable assumption that's what the article is about. I dont disagree that it's a good idea to be as clear as possible in titles. But if I saw an article about Madrid, I'd probably assume it's the one in Spain even if I happened to live in Madrid, Iowa. I guess the question is whether Oakland, CA has enough prominence to be known widely outside the region. And I do think it's a major city in its own right, not just in its relation to San Francisco.

nbaman_23 12y ago

For L.A. residents, this is pretty wild. Drives me nuts. This is what happens when bureaucratic agencies run wild, with no one but helpless citizens to hold them accountable [emphasis added]. This is why this is such a great idea! http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/city-leaders-react-to-bogus-parking-tickets-exposed-by-cbs2-report/ http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/11/12/city-leaders-react...